Geography

​Next after Latium is Campania, extending along the sea, and above it, in the interior, is Samnium as far as the Frentani and the Daunians, then the Daunians themselves and the other tribes as far as the Sicilian Strait. First, we must speak about Campania. From Sinuessa to the next coast, there is a very large gulf as far as Misenum, and from there another gulf much larger than the former, which they call the Crater, forming a bay between two capes, from Misenum to Athenaion. Above these shores is situated all Campania, a plain most blessed of all; and around it lie fruitful hills and the mountains of the Samnites and the Osci. Now Antiochus says that this country was inhabited by the Opici, and that these were also called Ausones. But Polybius appears to hold these as two distinct nations, for he says that both Opici and Ausones inhabited this country around the Crater. Others say that while the Opici and Ausones inhabited it first, a tribe of the Osci later seized the land from them, and these were expelled by the Cumaeans, and the Cumaeans by the Tyrrhenians; for because of its fertility the plain became a subject of contention; and having settled twelve cities in it, they named the one that was as it were the head, Capua. But because of luxury they turned to softness, and just as they departed from the country around the Po, so they yielded this also to the Samnites, and these in turn were expelled by the Romans. A sign of its fertility is that the finest wheat is produced here, I mean the wheat from which is made the groats that are superior to all rice and to almost any grain food. It is recorded that some parts of the plains are sown twice a year with spelt, and the third time with millet, and some parts are even cultivated with vegetables in a fourth sowing. Moreover, the Romans obtain their finest wine from here—the Falernian, the Statanian, and the Calenian; and already the Surrentine also is establishing itself as a rival to these, having recently been tested to show that it tolerates aging. In the very same way, all the country around Venafrum, which borders on the plains, is rich in olive oil.

​Of the cities on the sea, after Sinuessa is Liternum, where is the tomb of Scipio, the first to be surnamed Africanus; for he spent his last days here, having abandoned public affairs because of his hatred toward certain persons. A river of the same name flows past the city. In the same way also, the Volturnus is of the same name as the next city situated beside it; and this river flows through Venafrum and through the middle of Campania. Next after these is Cumae, a most ancient foundation of the Chalcidians and Cumaeans; for it is the oldest of all the Sicilian and Italiote cities. The leaders of the fleet, Hippocles the Cumaean and Megasthenes the Chalcidian, agreed among themselves that the colony should belong to the latter but take its name from the former; whence it is now called Cumae, though the Chalcidians are considered to have founded it. Formerly, then, the plain called Phlegraean also flourished, where they tell the myths about the Giants, for no other reason, as is likely, than because the land was a subject of contention due to its excellence. But later, when the Campanians became masters of the city, they committed many outrages against the inhabitants; and indeed, they themselves cohabited with their wives. Nevertheless, many traces of the Greek order, temples, and customs are still preserved. Some say that Cumae was named after the waves; for the nearby beach is rocky and exposed to the surf. There are also excellent fisheries for large sea-monsters among them. In this gulf there is also a sort of brushwood forest, waterless and sandy, extending over many stadia, which they call the Gallinaria forest. It was here that the admirals of Sextus Pompeius established pirate strongholds at the time when he caused Sicily to revolt.